Busy day today (really, about the last 10 or so days) and we're doing our easy fall back dinner. DH is outside roasting potatoes and will do a quick steak on the grill, I'm going to just steam some asparagus and rinse some blueberries for some antioxidants... I think I'll do a nicer dinner at some point this weekend, I somehow have a sale ham in each of two refrigerators, use by dates on both first week in June. One I'll freeze, the other I'll cook. We'll probably be having ham with au gratin potatoes, ham and bean soup, ham and eggs - all next week ;)

Its confusing because it goes against what has been the accepted common knowledge since perhaps the early 1800's. The farmers growing them and calling them yams, are wrong. The grocers selling them and calling them yams, are wrong. The companies canning them and labeling them as yams, are wrong. The people who first introduced them to the United States called them yams, perhaps to distinguish them from the different variety of sweet potatoes that were already on the market, they were wrong too. Even some sites on the web that try to explain the difference with helpful images like this one: http://www.frugallivingnw.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/yams-sweet-potatoes-is-there-a-difference-2.jpg are wrong. (hint they are all sweet potatoes, despite their labels) So it is not at all surprising that what I learned at a young age from my mother and grandmother, and which was continually re-enforced every Thanksgiving or every time I visited a grocery store, is wrong. I have never eaten a true yam in my life, and seeing some of the pictures of what a true yam look like, I probably never will. Does it harm me in any way if other people choose to call some varieties of sweet potatoes "yams", no. It merely bothers the pedantic part of me a little when someone asserts something to be a fact, when they are in fact wrong.

Oh dear....not the ideal dinner for us! We had been invited to some close friends' home for dinner over a week ago. I asked if there was anything I could bring and she insisted that everything was covered.....she was making lasagna. She turned down my offer of a salad. I love lasagna, but I have a real problem with wheat pasta. When I make it, it's a veggie layered meal, with ricotta, Italian sausage, gooey and delicious but no wheat noodles. She had yummy appetizers, puff pastry treats mostly, which I adore but can't eat much of. Luckily, there was a veggie platter. Her lasagna smelled and tasted divine, but I knew if I ate more than a bite that I'd suffer all weekend. And NO salad! I guess I'm going to have to declare myself 'wheat free' to my friends. I've never been to a restaurant or dinner where there were zero options and this was a bit of a shock. We stopped at McDonald's on the way home so I could have their Southwestern salad with grilled chicken. Robert stuffed himself with lasagna, lol.

Hey, Bob! We attended a downtown event this evening and sampled some pretty fine beer and ales from our local breweries. There are eight or nine here, now....I had no idea! We also sampled some 'small plate' goodies from several area restaurants and enjoyed everything from pulled pork sliders to delicious lettuce wraps filled with marinated shrimp and vegetables.